Elvis Dumervil’s contract talks with Broncos appear to have reached an impasse

[media-credit name=”Joe Amon, The Denver Post” align=”alignnone” width=”495″][/media-credit] Elvis Dumervil kneels on the field after the Broncos’ loss to Balitmore last season.

Contract talks between the Broncos and defensive end Elvis Dumervil are lacking talk.

There has been no communication between the two sides since Dumervil’s agent Marty Magid sent in his restructuring proposal Friday.

“Elvis has been working out, he’s healthy, he feels great,” Magid said. “He wants to stay with the Broncos. Right now, we’re waiting to hear back from them.”

The Broncos and Dumervil are midway through a six-year, $61.5 million contract extension that was negotiated by former coach Josh McDaniels following Dumervil’s NFL-leading 17 sack season of 2009. The team paid him $3.168 million in 2010, a season he missed because of a torn pectoral injury suffered in training camp, $14 million in 2011 when he had 9 1/2 sacks, and $14 million in 2012, when he had 11 sacks.

He is scheduled to make $12 million this season — a salary that becomes guaranteed if he is still on the team by Saturday. The Broncos have asked Dumervil to take a pay cut. He is also scheduled to make $10 million in 2014 and $8 million in 2015.

With contract talks seemingly at an impasse, the chances increase that Dumervil will be playing elsewhere in 2013 after he spent his first seven NFL seasons in Denver. Dumervil, 29, would like a resolution by 2 p.m. MDT Tuesday, when the free agent market opens.

If the Broncos ultimately decide to trade or release Dumervil, the team is expected to give some of his playing time to Robert Ayers, a first-round pick in 2009, while also pursuing another pass-rushing defensive end from free-agency.

Among those who figure to be available on the market come Tuesday are Tampa Bay’s Michael Bennett, the Giants’ Osi Umenyiora, the Ravens’ Paul Kruger, the Browns’ Juqua Parker, the Colts’ Dwight Freeney, the Chargers’ Antwan Barnes, the Bears’ Israel Idonije and the Falcons’ John Abraham.

He is as good as gone. Either you perform to the level of the contract you agreed to (when he had 17 sacks) or your gone. Dumervil had 11 and 9 sacks in 2011 and 2012. They paid him $14 million. That was about $9 million too much each year. Dumervil cleaned the Broncos clocks so phooey on him–let him go somewhere else.

Releasing Dumervil, DJ Williams and Joe Mays frees up $18 million and let’s the Broncos go hog wild in free agency. It’s a no-brainer. Plus there are several premier DE’s in the first round of the draft.

Wow I hope the Broncos do not let Elvis go, he works hard, has so much heart and has done a lot for the team, community and more! Super fan! Pretty sure he was not just sitting on his butt this year people!

How many years did we gripe about the lack of a pass rush in Denver? Now we have a consistent pass rush in Doom and Miller and the top brass wants to send one of them packing? Idiotic.

What happens when Miller is injured, or worse, when he is ineffective because he is getting all the attention from the opposition. Stupid idea! Keep them both. There are no good DE’s in free agency; Kruger, maybe, but his ability as a pass rusher does not match Doom’s. Possible future headline in this time line: “Denver D Doomed without Elvis.”

Maybe a pay-cut/restructure would be a good thing for Elvis…think about it.

Elvis has had injury problems and still having to bear the pass rush attempts load without a pass rushing DT or a true complimentary DE on the other side. So….on most non-passing downs, he is double teamed…and on most passing downs he gets help from Von…right? This is because everyone is forced to play outside of their natural position because of personnel deficiencies.

So why not improve his playing chances and the ENTIRE DL by giving up some money to secure a bull rushing DT?

Imagine the DL if that happens…Everyone can move back to their natural positions.Doom and Ayers/FA at the DEs, Wolf/DT/Vikerson in the middle…and Von able to run wild on blitzes. Plus the double teams vs Doom will lessen as the pressure increases in the middle.

Sounds like a win-win to me….take the pay cut and save your career Elvis…you might even get some jewelry out of it…

So, a million plus per sack is spending your money well? I think Elvis will do fairly well no matter where he plays, but knowing he’s over there opposite Von makes QB’s a little more anxious. Who could be found for less money to replace and produce equally as well? No one I see on the market, so there better be a guy they can get in the draft.

Its just simply too much money. Its a business, with a capped spending limit. If he had 17 sacks then sure. Also folks have pointed out that a lot of his sacks were 4th quarter garbage time sacks (against the Chefs etc), not 1st quarter sacks or in games we needed a sack (Ravens….). Also, a few sacks were b/c the QB was trying to run away from Von. Just think, we can have sJax AND Freeney for $12M. Is Freeney as good as Doom? No…but is he pretty close and we get a another solid player. Doom was a Denver hero, but he’s getting paid too much, same thing with Atlanta releasing J.Abraham etc. Sad to see you go Doom 🙁

Try to resign Dumervil if possible, but look at other options if he will not restructure. Dashon
Goldson is available at Safety to replace Rahim Moore. Cliff Avril and Mike Bennett are two DE’s that are top free agents.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.